Padres’ Michael King Placed on 15-Day IL With Right Shoulder Inflammation
San Diego Padres right-hander Michael King has landed on the 15-day injured list after being diagnosed with right shoulder inflammation, the club announced Sunday.
King was originally scheduled to pitch Saturday against the Atlanta Braves but was scratched prior to first pitch after waking up with shoulder stiffness. The team instead opted for a bullpen game and ultimately fell 7-1, earning their seventh loss in eight games.
In a corresponding move to Sunday’s IL placement, the Padres recalled fellow right-hander David Morgan from Triple-A El Paso.
“He’s got something going on with his [scapula] that we’re trying to locate,” manager Mike Shildt told reporters, including MLB.com’s Rick Farlow, at Truist Park on Sunday. “[There’s] just some weakness in that area. That’s a pretty important area for the pitcher. Typically we’re in a day-to-day situation, but we’re still a little bit more in the discovery phase with what this is. It’s not an overly common situation but it’s something that, medically, we’ll have our hands on. We’ll get back to San Diego and we’ll evaluate it over the next couple of days.”
The Padres have yet to determine an exact timeline for King’s return, but the encouraging news is that the 30-year-old already feels like he’s taken a step forward since being scratched from Saturday’s contest.
With an off-day on May 29th, San Diego could skip King’s turn in the rotation for the time being, having the other four starters pitch on regular rest rather than taking advantage of an extra day off. The club will, however, require a fifth starter on June 2 versus the San Francisco Giants.
The Padres have already announced that Randy Vásquez and Stephen Kolek will start the first two games of this week’s series against the Miami Marlins. Wednesday’s starter, meanwhile, officially remains TBD but will likely end up being Nick Pivetta.
“Ideally, Michael misses one start the way the schedule can work out,” Shildt said. “We’ll make a move and have somebody make a start. We’ll evaluate who and when that is soon. We’ve already evaluated it. We’ll just finalize and announce it. We should have the rotation for Miami here shortly.”
When the Padres decide to locate an injury replacement for King, their potential options will likely include Ryan Bergert and Kyle Hart, both of whom are already on the 40-man roster. Matt Waldron, who opened this season on the IL with an oblique injury, could also receive consideration after completing three rehab starts – two with Double-A San Antonio.
Waldron is currently on the 60-day IL, though, meaning San Diego would first have to create space on its 40-man roster before activating him.
It had been a strong start to the 2025 campaign for King, who pitched to a 2.59 ERA and 3.21 FIP with 64 strikeouts in 10 starts, accounting for 1.4 fWAR across 55.2 innings. Last season, he registered career-highs in starts (30), innings pitched (173.2), wins (13), strikeouts (201) and fWAR (3.9) during his first season exclusively as a starter.
King, expected to decline his $15-million mutual option for 2026 and enter free agency this off-season, was acquired from the New York Yankees as part of the Juan Soto blockbuster ahead of the ‘24 season.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Allan Ferguson. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.